Ask HN: What's your favorite software-free keyboard and mouse?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32779871

by mastry • 4 years ago

9 21 4 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I've lost all patience with Logitech. I currently use their mechanical keyboard and the new version of the MX Master mouse. The hardware is good, but the software is obnoxious. It's not unusual to see 5 or 6 Logitech processes running. In my opinion that's ridiculous, so I'm looking for good replacements that require zero software.

What's your favorite (software-free) keyboard and mouse for programming?

elmerfud• 4 years ago

I use the MX master mouse and have never installed software for it. I switch it between windows and Mac and keep the 3rd slot free for random pairings as needed.

geordee• 4 years ago

Microsoft Bluetooth Keyboard and Mouse.

onemiketwelve• 4 years ago

I have the Logitech 502 mouse and mx. I'm totally with you on the software front. The gamer app I think is 500mb and takes 30 seconds to open sometimes.

But I found out you can use it to set settings to the mouse itself, then disable the software. For mx I don't install anything, just use basic windows drivers.

Nobody else has low latency wireless mice like Logitech. So I put up with the software.

dan-g• 4 years ago

I don’t have a mouse recommendation, but the Kinesis Advantage II is a keyboard that increased my typing speed (concave keywells) and cured my RSI.

okay, I sound like a snake oil salesman. But it has lots of configuration options and no required weird software that needs to be running all the time.

cjbconnor• 4 years ago

Ergodox EZ and a Zowie EC-1, sometimes a Realforce R2.

The mouse has hardware buttons on the bottom for DPI and polling rate, and zero software. It's also the most comfortable mouse I've used and has lasted 5 years without any issues. I flashed a custom (open source) firmware to my Ergodox once, never messed with it since then. The Realforce also has no software.

techhazard• 4 years ago

I’m also very happy with my Ergodox EZ, and a trackball mouse.

The configuration of the keyboard is highly flexible and super easy, and no software on the pc is needed (only to flash the updated config).

I’ve also used a Kinesis Advantage in the past, which was amazing. But that was my boss’s, so I had to leave it.

Apart from that I’m using the Dvorak layout, which gives me a much better typing experience than querty; way less fingerstreching.

jodoherty• 4 years ago

I use the Kinesis Advantage 2 keyboard and the Logitech Ergo M575 trackball mouse pretty exclusively these days

dmm• 4 years ago

Same here. I replaced the controller in my Advantage with a kint so I could program it with qmk: https://michael.stapelberg.ch/posts/2020-07-09-kint-kinesis-...

lp0_on_fire• 4 years ago

I use a Das Keyboard at home. It has a USB cord, you plug it in and it "just works". Be aware: a good number of their other keyboards come with programmable LED lights that by necessity need special drivers, but the 4 Pro has been great for me.

https://www.daskeyboard.com/daskeyboard-4-professional/

For one of my mice I have a Corsair RGP0075. It's got a USB RF dongle and Bluetooth that's also plug and play. however, if you want to disable the led lights on the mouse you need to install their software.

karmakaze2• 4 years ago

Currently I use relatively cheap mechanical keyboards--whatever was on sale or liked the look of. I improve my typing comfort with a custom layout.

For a mouse I use a TUF Gaming M3[0]. TUF is a lower gaming brand of ASUS. It has configuration software that I set up on my Surface Go tablet. The mouse itself holds config in firmware and can use with any computer without software. The selling point for me is that I can configure the 4 button-selectable DPIs (up to 7000) to match the different screen resolutions I use, and perfect linear response. It's such a good deal that I get several and keep one in my laptop bag and give them to my family, etc. It was also hard to find a mouse with a medium size and symmetric shape. So many are weirdly shaped so that when I move vertically or horizontally holding it naturally, motion skews off-axis. The setup also has a straight-line tracking option, but I leave it off for the times that I do some gaming.

[0] https://www.asus.com/ca-en/Accessories/Mice-and-Mouse-Pads/T...

tveyben2• 4 years ago

I was looking for a cheap good mouse, so this was good to read (I have just ordered a handfull of 'your' TUF mice, so they better be good ;-)

I hope the scroll wheel fells like my Razer DeathAdder Elite, which have 24 "rough" steps per 360 degrees, other mice (like my Logitech M318e) have what feels like an 'infinite' number of fine steps (maybe there are 100 - it's difficult to count!)

It just feels so much better - also there's a lot more friction, making it easier to control (like stop at the right place)…

Thanks for the good input.

karmakaze2• 4 years ago

There's about 20-ish clearly noticeable detents on the scrollwheel per revolution--I counted 7 clicks moving along the exposed perimeter of the wheel. The only thing that I see could be better is if the cord was braided and detachable, but I'm not serious a gamer or anything.

xeonmc• 4 years ago

TEX Shinobi

dietsche• 4 years ago

My favorite keyboard is the Kinesis Advantage 2. It saved my software engineering career. I have them at home and work. Worth every penny. Their support is fantastic too.

Also, I use a Logi M575 trackball most of the time. But occasionally switch to my Evoluent vertical mouse if my hand needs a change.

Kab1r• 4 years ago

I have a Anne Pro 2 running a custom build of QMK. It has a customizable keymap and can even replay macros with no software running on the host machine.

saltcured• 4 years ago

Various generations of Thinkpad travel or fullsize keyboards. Unfortunately they seem to come and go from the market at least in the US. I mostly use USB ones, but also one Bluetooth model for piloting a media PC from across the room.

They have the same keyboard as their contemporary laptops with the Trackpoint pointing device and mouse buttons, which is my preferred input for programming and other text-based tasks. My older models have a small trackpad as well.

Some variants also

neversaydie• 4 years ago

I use a Fnatic MiniStreak mechanical keyboard. Somewhat cheaper than the top end brands, but still very good. There is software if you want to configure LEDs and macros and such (it's gamer gear, so it's bedecked in coloured lights), but you don't have to install it.

Mind you, that's true of most Logitech gear too - it'll work fine with basic Windows drivers, you don't have to install that G Hub Pro whatever-it-is stuff.

Some of their mice also have on-board memory for settings - you can configure them once using the software, write the config to the mouse, then not bother with the software again.

jasomill• 4 years ago

I use a Logitech G502 (Windows, Mac OS, Linux), which works fine without the software after initial configuration (though I'm not certain about LED color options because I just configure them off, which is persistent).

I also use a WASD mechanical keyboard (Windows, Mac OS, Linux) where all configuration is done via DIP switches, and an Apple Magic Trackpad (on Mac OS only, so no third-party software is required; no idea how well it'd work on Windows or Linux, but if older MacBook Pro trackpad drivers are any indication, Windows driver support may be poor).

tsuujin• 4 years ago

I use a corne keyboard and I can not recommend it enough.

aristofun• 4 years ago

Logitech mx bt keyboard is awesome without software. Why bother installing it?

tveyben2• 4 years ago

For Windows & Linux I have currently settled for a "Logitech G413 gaming" keyboard and am very happy with that choice!

I would like to be able to use the old "Apple Extended Keyboard" [1], but on Windows that have not yet been feasible, despite the excellent help from Capsicain [2] So for now I only use that on my non-labtop Apple computers…

My requirement for a Keyboard are here:

F-keys

    Seperated in groups of four (F1-F4, F5-F8 & F9-F12)
    F# clearly identfied on key (keyboards with Fn function typically favor the non-F-function)

Arrow keys

    Inverted T

Sections seperated with space

    Space between alpha / arrow+page up|down / numeric sections
    Microsoft Surface fails here

Alpha section

    Return key 90 degree angle shaped "danish" (NOT the US horisontal) aka "big enter"
    ÆØÅ keys labelled NOT combined with the other nordic letters - only the danish letter (can be improved by painting over the other nordic letters)

Numeric section (aka 'extended keyboard')

    Must be present

Arrow section

    Delete key same size as normal keys (NOT double height as some Logitech keyboards)

Connection technology

    USB (must support KVM without delay)

Fn key

    NOT present at all
    If present, then
    - NOT positioned on the left side of SPACE (will be hit in stead of CTRL, not good)

Key travel As the 'old' A1243 Apple extended keyboard [1] or Microsoft Surface (with ca. 2,2 mm key travel) As Logitech G413 (larger key travel, 'tactile' switches) NOT as HP KU-0316 (default with their newer PC's) Preferably 'scissor' type (not 'membrane' type)

USB hub built-in

    Nice, not mandatory

RIGHT CLICK KEY (aka MENU)

    Nice, not mandatory (remember to use SHIFT-F10)

[1] https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Apple_Extended_Keyboard_A1243

[2] https://github.com/cajhin/capsicain

Ask HN: What's your favorite software-free keyboard and mouse?

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